Black spots

I am wondering if any of you have seen or heard of this before, or if it's even something to be worried about. Kayla keeps developing these black spots - like large freckles - all over her body. She's had a few of them for a while (probably 2+ years) but over the last year, they've started multiplying like crazy. We really don't worry about them, except that now a few of them have become crusty/scabby. It's very odd. The easiest ones to see are on her belly because there's no fur on her belly, but I do find them on her legs as well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/rachelp/IMG_1567.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/rachelp/IMG_1566.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/rachelp/IMG_1559.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v416/rachelp/IMG_1568.jpg

at first I was thinking yeast - until I saw the pictures.

I am stumped!

could it be some sort of fungus??

TxAllieGrl wrote:could it be some sort of fungus??

Hmm, I don't know. The majority of them are not raised - they really do just look like large freckles or age spots on people. There's just these few that are raised and crusty. Her nipples have even blackened on the tips of them and one of them is crusty too. It's so odd.

Get them scraped and tested?

Izzie's got little black nipple spots.

Rachel, Winston had something that looked like that too and the vet took a sample from a couple of them and it turned out they were "pigmented viral plaque". It was worth the cost of the biopsy ($160) to find out that they weren't very serious, almost never turn into cancer, and put my mind at ease. All it involved was a local and a couple of stitches, keep the stitches dry for 10 days and a weeks worth of an antibiotic. My vet had never seen them before in almost 30 years of practice. (What can I say, Winston has kept them on their toes, they've never seen syringomyelia before him either.)

Cathy and Winston wrote:Rachel, Winston had something that looked like that too and the vet took a sample from a couple of them and it turned out they were "pigmented viral plaque". It was worth the cost of the biopsy ($160) to find out that they weren't very serious, almost never turn into cancer, and put my mind at ease. All it involved was a local and a couple of stitches, keep the stitches dry for 10 days and a weeks worth of an antibiotic. My vet had never seen them before in almost 30 years of practice. (What can I say, Winston has kept them on their toes, they've never seen syringomyelia before him either.)

Interesting, Cathy. I've never brought it up to the vet - haven't really been overly worried about it - I really have just figured they're freckles, but they give me a little pause now that some have started to become crusty/scabby. I'll have to mention it to the vet next time we're there.

Yes, if it's bizarre and they've never seen it before, that would most likely happen to Kayla too - her surgeons last year told me she's an enigma. Sounds like Winston is your little enigma!!

Pugsy used to get them on her belly too. They never bothered her unless I messed with them.

So glad to see another pug with these spots!! Gracie has these...a lot of them for that matter. I showed the vet and she wasn't concerned. She said for me to just keep an eye on them and if I ever noticed any changes then to bring her in. I would still have your vet check them out just to make sure especially since you said some are becoming scabby. Those do look like Gracie's and the vet saw no worries so it put some east to my mind.

Kayla had to go in to the vet today, so I had him take a look at her black spots. He told me he doesn't know what they are. He said he could biopsy them if I wanted him to. But in the grand scheme of things and given her other health issues, he's not at all very concerned about them. I told him I don't want to biopsy them; I'm in agreement with him, these are probably the lease of our health worries when it comes to Kayla. So, one less thing to be worried about.